Maxwell · 2014
NVIDIA's GTX 860M arrived in 2014 with 640 Maxwell cores, 2GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, and a modest 45W power budget that let it fit into slimmer gaming laptops than its predecessors. It was one of the more confusing GPU names of its generation: NVIDIA shipped the 860M badge over more than one underlying chip depending on the laptop maker, so two machines with the same model name on the spec sheet didn't always perform identically.
Where it landed in practice was solid 1080p gaming for the games of 2014-2015, well below what any current budget GPU offers. If you're trying to judge a specific laptop that lists this chip, it's worth confirming the actual silicon with a tool like GPU-Z rather than assuming the numbers here.
NVIDIA sold more than one real GPU chip under this exact model name during this era (confirmed for example on the GT 740M, sold as both a GK107 and a GK208 die with different clocks and memory bus widths). The specs shown here reflect one common configuration - the actual hardware in a specific laptop can differ. Check a tool like GPU-Z for the real specs in your machine.
Light gaming and everyday graphics at lower settings.
2 GB GDDR5 memory.
Push performance beyond base clock.
Soldered (Mobile)
Real-world specs can differ by laptop model - see the note above.
The NVIDIA GTX 860M is a entry-level dedicated GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, suited to light gaming and general-purpose display output.